1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention discloses a method of performing forward error correction with a configurable latency for digital communications systems.
2. Background of the Invention
Long-distance digital communication systems, such as optical submarine cable systems, are responsible for the transmission of significant amounts of data. This data is transmitted across great distances, often from continent to continent. During transmission, data can become corrupted from noise within transmission channels, faults in transmission or receiving devices, or data errors from reading from and writing to an elastic store. Therefore, Forward Error Correction (FEC) is employed to minimize the error probability of transmitted data.
Claude Shannon first suggested a maximum possible channel throughout which developed into a theorem of error correction describing the addition of redundant data to payload data for the correction of errors from channel noise or interference during transmission. This FEC increases the reliability of transmitted data by encoding a block of payload data with redundant data bits through an algorithm generated at the transmitter, which allows a decoder to determine if an error has occurred. The decoder employs the code generated by the encoder to identify what information, if any, has been corrupted by noise or interference during transmission, and the decoder can in turn correct these errors.
Typically, a FEC system architecture provides a fixed latency system, meaning that the architecture could be limited to the type of data application it can be utilized with. To allow the system to adapt for use with various data applications, a method of providing a configurable latency FEC is required.